The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports for Utila Island.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Utila Island.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Utila Island.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Pumpkin Hill

Pyroclastic cone

74 m

16° 7' 0" N

86° 53' 0" W

Stuert Hill
Stuart Hill

Pyroclastic cone

51 m

16° 6' 0" N

86° 54' 0" W

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

LatitudeLongitude

343160

Unknown - Evidence Credible

74 m / 243 ft

16.12°N
86.882°W

Volcano Types

Pyroclastic cone(s)

Rock Types

MajorBasalt / Picro-Basalt

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zoneContinental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 kmWithin 10 kmWithin 30 kmWithin 100 km

2,260
2,260
2,260
650,270

Geological Summary

The island of Utila in the Carribean Sea off the northern coast of Honduras is the easternmost and lowest of the Bay Islands at the southern edge of the submarine Bartlett Trough. Utila is capped by a thin veneer of Holocene basaltic rocks at its eastern end (McBirney and Bass, 1969). Basaltic lavas and tuffs were erupted onto a coral-capped erosional surface. Stuert Hill (also spelled Stuart Hill) is a pyroclastic cone that was constructed at the center of the volcanic terrain, and Pumpkin Hill is a small littoral cone located along the NE coast of the island. The high point of the island is Pumpkin Hill, which rises only 74 m above sea level.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Utila Island.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Utila Island.

Photo Gallery

Pumpkin Hill, a small pyroclastic cone at the NE end of Utila Island, is seen here across a forest from Stuert Hill, the other pyroclastic cone on the eastern side of the island. The two cones lie about 2 km apart and were constructed over flat-lying terraces that cover much of the elongated, 3 x 11 km wide island. Alkaline olivine-basaltic lava flows erupted from the cones cover much of the eastern side of the island and underlie the forest in this photo. The Caribbean Sea lies in the background to the NE.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).

The low peak in the background is Stuert Hill, a pyroclastic cone that rises only 51 m above the Caribbean Sea at the eastern end of Utila Island. The cone is seen here from across East Harbor at the SE end of the island. The cone forms an arcuate ridge composed of ejected basaltic tuffs and abundant blocks that include coral fragments, limestone, and metamorphic rocks.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).

Pumpkin Hill, a low pyroclastic cone reaching only 74 m above sea level, is the high point of Utila Island. The cone occupies the NE tip of the island and consists of stratified basaltic lapilli and tuffs containing abundant blocks and small fragments of coral. The vent of the cone appears to lie on this side near its northern base, but only the southern half of the cone remains.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).

The low pyroclastic cone Stuert Hill (also spelled Stuart Hill) rises beyond Utila, the largest village on the island of the same name. A ferry connects the village of Utila, formerly known as East Harbor, to the mainland of Honduras. Most of the island consists of flat-lying uplifted coral reefs; volcanic rocks are found only at the eastern end of the island.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).

The low peak in the distance is Pumpkin Hill, a pyroclastic cone at the NE end of Utila Island. The small 74-m-high cone was erupted onto a coral-capped erosional surface forming the cliffs in the foreground and marks the high point on the island. Basaltic lavas and tuffs blanket terraces on the NE side of Utila. The island lies in the Caribbean Sea off the northern coast of Honduras and is the easternmost and lowest of the Bay Islands at the southern edge of the submarine Bartlett Trough.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).

GVP Map Holdings

The maps shown below have been scanned from the GVP map archives and include the volcano on this page. Clicking on the small images will load the full 300 dpi map. Very small-scale maps (such as world maps) are not included. The maps database originated over 30 years ago, but was only recently updated and connected to our main database. We welcome users to tell us if they see incorrect information or other problems with the maps; please use the Contact GVP link at the bottom of the page to send us email.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

External Sites

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Utila Island. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Utila Island. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window.

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).